Concept:
- Land is fixed in total, so if one category grows another must shrink. Asking which category the government has actively worked to expand gives the answer quickly.
- Only one of these four has a national policy behind it.
Step 1: Ask which category is a policy target.
The National Forest Policy sets a goal of about one third of the land area under forest and tree cover, and afforestation drives are run to reach it. No such national target exists for barren land, pasture or unusable land.
So forest is the category being deliberately increased.
Step 2: Ask what pressure the other categories face.
A growing population needs more houses, roads, factories and farms. That pressure eats into grazing land and reclaims barren land rather than adding to either.
Permanent pasture has therefore fallen, and barren and waste land has reduced as well.
Step 3: Check the consequence of the fall in pasture.
India has a very large cattle population, and the shrinking of permanent pasture makes feeding it harder. This confirms that pasture has been declining and not growing.
Step 4: Settle on the answer.
Forest is the only category among the four that has been rising, even though it still falls short of the one third target.
Final Answer: (D) Forest